Electric cooking appliances, such as electric cooktops and stoves, typically employ high wattage resistance coil heating elements which are energized to heat the contents of various cooking vessels. These high wattage resistance coil heating elements usually are provided in two sizes (for example, eight inch elements and six inch elements) and two wattages (for example, 2600 watts for the eight inch elements and 1500 watts for six inch elements). Also, these high wattage resistance coil heating elements typically have been used with burner bowls (which are sometimes referred to as drip pans) that are arranged to collect drips, spills, boil-overs, and/or the like. Thus, such drips, spills, boil-overs, and/or the like do not reach appliance parts, such as cooktop burner boxes, that are beneath the high wattage resistance coil heating elements.
Burner bowls in the past have been primarily chrome burner bowls. Chrome burner bowls reflect heat fairly efficiently. Accordingly, chrome burner bowls stay relatively cool because they do not absorb any appreciable amount of heat. However, chrome burner bowls cannot be provided in colors that match the other surfaces of the cooking appliance or the cooking area in which the cooking appliance is used.
Furthermore, the application of ever-increasing wattages for the high wattage heating elements used in cooking appliances requires that the heat density generated by these high wattage heating elements be shielded from the normally combustible cabinets which either house the cooking appliance or which are adjacent thereto.
The present invention is directed to burner assemblies which have color matching burner bowls and adequate heat shielding.